If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo
My lilacs are starting to come out of their “shells!” We’ve had some rain today and I thought I could maybe capture some water drops on them, but those lilac blossoms are sucking up all the water! They must be pretty thirsty! If you look closely, you can see some of the rain near the inside of the leaves. I’m getting really excited to see these bloom now!
My fellow I Heart Faces contributor, Miss B, opened a new class for her Souvenir Foto School six weeks ago and we were assigned to pick one plant and document it every week for six weeks. I chose my lilac bush and it’s been so much fun to see it grow! This is the last week of the class, but I think I’m going to continue on until these finish growing completely!
I haven’t been processing these too heavily, I have found I love them as natural as can be. I’ve just enhanced what’s already there! 
On this photo, I used a new action from a set I’m working on. They are based on my Photo Veils and they are turning out so neat! I can’t wait to share them with you all!
I am so happy to announce the debut of our OpenScrapbook Digital Products Shop with our first release of Photo Veils – The Simplicity Collection! They are so simple to use and they can transform your photos quickly into works of art! Photo Veils work much like textures, you apply them to your photos and use blending modes to achieve your desired effects. They are compatible with most photo editing programs, including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements!
The Simplicity Collection is priced at $35 and includes 30 original Photo Veils. Members of OpenScrapbook receive a 50% discount on all digital products in our shop! Membership is only $15 a month and includes access to photography and digital scrapbooking tutorials, exclusive brushes, actions and textures, color palettes, special deals and more!
I’ve whipped up a few before and afters for you to see what Photo Veils can do! Each of these edits took me less than a minute to complete! That’s how quick and simple these are! They work the best in the Soft Light blending mode, which is what I’ve used in most of these samples. Experiment and try different blending modes to create a custom look!
Pixie Kisses – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Salmon Salad Surprise! – Soft Light blending mode – 40% Opacity
Northern Lights – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Grass Stains – Soft Light blending mode – 50% Opacity
Marigold – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Summer Lily – Soft Light blending mode – 70% Opacity
Honey Crisp – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
History – Soft Light blending mode – 70% Opacity
Autumn Blaze – Soft Light blending mode – 20% Opacity
Serenity – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Pixe Kisses – Soft Light blending mode – 40% Opacity
Marigold – Soft Light blending mode – 50% Opacity
Whisper – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Ice – Overlay blending mode – 70% Opacity
Middle Image: Brave – Soft Light blending mode – 100% Opacity
Mountain Sunset – Soft Light blending mode – 20% Opacity
Last Image: Winter Jasmine – Soft Light blending mode – 75% Opacity
Repose – Soft Light blending mode – 50% Opacity
I’m cheating a little with my 365 today! I am so swamped getting things ready for my photo veils release! This is one of the before and afters I’ve been working on this afternoon.
Aaron brought me home a little surprise from work today. A friend he works with brought an extension tube for me to play around with. I had a lot of fun with it! Thanks so much Brent! (You can check out his photos here.)
I’ve heard a little bit about them, mainly you use them with one of your regular lenses to do macro photography. I’ve been wanting to do macro, but those lenses can get expensive. This is an inexpensive way to get these kinds of shots. I may have to pick me up one of these while I save up for a macro lens.
Here are some of my favorite shots I got tonight. I read up quickly about how to use it, and many people recommended setting your aperture to f16 or f22. I forgot to change it when I first started shooting, it was set to f6.3. After a little while I thought, what the heck! I’m going to see what f1.4 does! (Oh, btw, I used my 50mm lens with the extension tube tonight.) I love it! The pictures are so dreamy and soft.
(All but the 5th and last pictures are set at f1.4. Those two are set at f6.3.)
